


juxtaposed

by bethejerktomybitch



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, Parallel Universes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-21
Updated: 2018-06-21
Packaged: 2019-05-26 10:39:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14999126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bethejerktomybitch/pseuds/bethejerktomybitch
Summary: Ten universes in which Alec and Magnus meet, but somehow it's never meant to be.





	juxtaposed

**Author's Note:**

> So... this is a little like the piece I wrote for Agents of SHIELD, but sadder. Somehow I seem to be better at writing tragedy than happy endings. Anyway, leave Kudos or a comment if you like it!

**One**

In the first universe, there are no demons, no monsters and no shadow world. It’s a universe of happiness and plenty, of blue skies and double rainbows and symmetrical snowflakes, and Magnus meets him in a coffee shop.

 

His eyes are blue like the summer sky outside and their hands brush briefly as they both reach for their coffee cup. “Sorry.” the boy says, a blinding white smile lighting up his face, and Magnus can only watch, transfixed, as he walks out of the door.

 

They never see each other again.

* * *

 

  **Two**

Clary introduces them at a party, a knowing smirk on her face. “This is Alec.” she says. “He’s a friend of Jace’s.” Magnus puts on his best charming smile, holds out his hand, and when the other boy reaches for it he shivers for the briefest moment. “Wanna dance?” he asks.

 

They spent all night dancing and talking and kissing in the darkness of an empty room, and then they don’t see each other again until five years later, at Clary’s wedding. Alec has a cute little blonde tucked into his side and Magnus can’t find the courage to talk to him.

 

* * *

 

**Three**

There is a wedding. Magnus stands in the aisle, bares his heart and soul to Alec in front of everyone, and Alec – Alec shakes his head ever so slightly, forms a silent apology, and turns back to Lydia, and in this universe, that is all there is to it.

* * *

 

 

**Four**

His eyes are blue and that’s all Magnus really knows because the blade pierces his chest a second later.

 

* * *

 

**Five**

The next time, he’s the one with the blade. They are on different sides in this universe – Alec the shadowhunter in shining armor, Magnus the half-demon shrouded in darkness – and when the dark-haired man falls in front of him, Magnus’ lips twist into a triumphant grin. “What are you going to do now, Lightwood?” he asks.

 

He doesn’t wait for an answer, and barely even watches as he separates his pretty head from his body with a flick of his wrist, already thinking about how proud his father will be that he got rid of the head of the New York institute.

 

* * *

 

**Six**

In some universes, it ends before it really begins. This is one of them.

 

Alec starts fighting demons on his fourteenth birthday. He never makes it to his fifteenth.

 

* * *

 

**Seven**

In another universe, Magnus gets his heart broken one time too many. When his gaze finds Alec’s for the first time he allows himself to dream for a moment, imagines days and months and years spent together in utmost happiness, but then he imagines the end too, the end that will always, inevitably, end with him in pieces, and he looks away.

 

Magnus is not willing to risk another heartbreak, not even for the pretty Lightwood boy with the eyes like the sky.

 

* * *

 

**Eight**

Everything must end, of course, so in this universe the end comes too, though it is a kind one, considering. Alec is old, has lived an entire life, while Magnus is still young, the years passing but leaving no trace of it on his face. In recent years, when they went out public with their fingers intertwined, they have gotten strange looks from the people they passed. Magnus never minded, and for all Alec was self-conscious when they first started dating, all those years ago, he has become more self-assured with age and didn’t mind so much either.

 

So here they are, now, at the end, Alec’s greying head in his lap, and Magnus can tell that it’s hurting him to breathe, that he’s holding on only for him. “It’s alright, Alexander.” he whispers and forces himself to smile through the tears. “You can let go now. I’ll be okay, I promise.”

 

Alec’s blues eyes meet his and he squeezes his hand with all the strength he possessed when he was younger. “I love you, Magnus.” he mutters.

 

Magnus holds him close all night, even after his last breath has left his body, and then he walks away and never looks back.

* * *

 

 

**Nine**

One moment they’re happy and the next everything is in pieces and Alec is on the floor in his arms, scarlet blood seeping out of the deep gash in his chest. Magnus’ eyes are burning with tears and he tries to summon his magic, tries so hard to save Alec, but Asmodeus has already claimed his payment, and so all he can do is press his hands to Alec’s chest, trying desperately to stop the bleeding.

 

“You’re going to be okay, Alec.” he says, but his voice is trembling and he’s trying the reassure himself more than Alec. “You’re going to be fine, I promise. I’m going to get you out of here and then everything is going to be fine.”

 

Alec smiles, his lips coated in blood. “It’s okay, Magnus.” he whispers. “It’s okay. I love you.”

 

And maybe that was the problem.

 

* * *

 

**Ten**

In this universe, they never meet, and maybe that’s for the best.

 

 


End file.
